Billboards set to be scrapped, or moved away from roads

By George Psyllides

MOST billboards littering the island’s roads could soon be a thing of the past, after the House Interior and Communications Committees finally agreed on the majority of provisions which a bill on advertising hoardings should include.

The draft could be discussed by the plenum next Thursday and two points of disagreement are expected to be clarified on Tuesday.

The two sticky points concern the time in which the law would take effect and a proposal tabled by DISY for billboards to be allowed on pavements only if they were placed parallel to it — and not at an angle, as they are now.

All parties except the Greens agreed that billboards should be placed at a distance of 40 metres from the highway and have at least three kilometres distance between them. The bill provides that highway billboards should be fixed and their size should not exceed 12 square metres.

Within cities, billboards are to be banned from pavements, junctions and traffic lights, though bus stops with advertisements will remain untouched.

Chairman of the Interior Committee Nicos Katsourides said the bill would probably be tabled before plenum on Thursday. “With the exception of the Greens, the rest of the parties have agreed on 99.9 per cent of the points.

“There are two points of disagreement but they will be clarified the latest by Tuesday,” Katsourides said.

DISY deputy Andreas Papapolyviou noted that there was no study submitted to the House to prove a link between billboards and traffic accidents, while DIKO deputy Antigoni Papadopoulou suggested that the bill should also regulate the contents of the advertisements.

Green party deputy George Perdikis said his party proposed that billboards should not be visible from highways. He said he was saddened that despite the initial positive approach to this suggestion, the agreement between the big parties had changed the plan.

A representative of the Outdoor Advertising Association, Michalis Charalambous, disagreed with the 40 metres distance and wondered why huge commercial buildings were allowed to be constructed 12 metres from highways while billboards were banned.

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